The Commander
The Commander is a minor character in'' Cyborg 009, appearing in the arc "Immigration". He is a young man from the 23rd century, and part of the "Immigration" initiative to take his people to live in a time without war or corruption. He later briefly re-appears in the climax to the sequel to the arc, titled '"The People Drifting Between Space and Time". His two appearances in the manga are thus 18 years apart in publication, while the exact time passage between the original arc and its sequel is left ambiguous. Appearance The Commander dresses in a black-and-gold patterned bodysuit, white gloves, and has a short yellow capelet around his shoulders. Half of his face is concealed by a black half-mask, leaving only the left side of his face visible. His left eye is concealed by a black sunglass-like monocle, and he has light hair, presumably chestnut brown or blond when considering his parentage. In his later cameo, he has ditched the half-mask and some of the rest of his face can briefly be seen when his body is lying dead on the ground. His short hair is shown to have long fringe that covers his right eye, identical to the style of Ishinomori's "Jun" character. Personality The Commander is driven in his goals to find a time with peace, but does not wish for the future to be entirely altered, as it would mean he would completely cease to exist. While taking 009, 007, and 006 hostage, he realizes something familiar about 009 and insists on running a brain scan. In the time he comes from, any records of Black Ghost or cyborgs have been erased, which leads to him being suspicious and curious of the 00 cyborgs' nature. Due to realizing that he's the descendant of 009, he does not intend any harm to come to his progenitor, though finds that he is unable to trust his own operatives (as they double-cross him due to not finding his methods severe enough). He is cynical about the idea of different races getting along with each other, as he points out the many flaws he has seen in the 20th century upon his arrival there and the fact that wars are created over them. Abilities The Commander is proficient in use of a gun much like the Super Gun, which he uses to shoot down flying saucers ridden by the traitors of his time travel group. History By the year 2222, humanity was a post-apocalyptic wasteland and had been through a new Stone Age. However, the invention of the time machine had sparked a symbol of hope to The Commander and other people from the future who had planned for their "Immigration" back to a better era, to escape the harsh conditions. The time machine had come with one flaw, however, that would have to be fixed: At the maximum, they could only travel back 300 years and hadn't had the time to perfect the machine. Their 254-year trip took them back to 1968, a time between the Second World War and the dreadful Third World War that would be destined to doom the Earth with its nuclear fallout. Other operatives of the future had planned to integrate and invade the current era by killing off politicians, replacing them with their own people in hopes of influencing the masses. But to the Commander, stopping WWIII from entirely happening was not an option in his mind, as it meant his own fate being altered, especially if he were to attempt to return to his own future. He would take 009, 006, and 007 hostage after they attempted to invade his base at North Iwo Jima. The Commander held 009 in custody, taking an interest in the young man's idealism and finding that the two of them were related. Upon his findings, he ordered 003, "Francoise" to be brought to North Iwo Jima, along with Rina, one of the other people in his "Immigration" initiative. However, 003 and Rina also brought 002 and 004 along with them, and though the Commander's soldiers suggested he kill 003 for disobeying his orders, he refused the idea. Upon the attempt at exchanging hostages, the Commander would find he was betrayed by his subordinates, who had gone as far as attempting to kill him with their spaceships. He would be rescued by 009, and assisted in battling the ships by 002 and 004. The Commander would soon learn that his time machine's improvements were finished, and that he could now travel back a million years. He immediately decided that he and his people would travel to the moment of humanity's birth, so that they could become the ancestors of mankind. With this, he also confessed to 009 and 003 that they were his own distant ancestors, causing the two to become surprised that they'd eventually marry and sire children. The People Drifting Between Space and Time During the Commander's travel back in time, his group fell into a maelstrom and their trip was disrupted. Feuds in the group lead to them splitting off into two factions; the "Return" group who would freely manipulate space-time and infiltrate the modern era, and the "Opposition" group who would be opposing such manipulation and attempting to secure their rightful home back in time. The Commander chose to remain in the "Opposition" group, though some of his soldiers (including Philippe) defected to the "Return" side and arranged the abduction of 003, with the knowledge that she was his distant ancestor. This would be foiled by the work of 009 and 007. Through the arc, the 00 cyborgs would have to undo the anomalies caused by the "Return" group, and would ultimately be sent back to prehistoric times where the two sides (Return and Opposition) were to do battle. In the ultimate clash between the factions, the Commander would attempt to fight, but would find his spaceship shot down and would be crushed to death under rubble, with 009 and the others discovering his corpse (with him having died from a head wound). Notes * The Commander's real name is never given during the arc, although the 1968 series and its counterpart to his character have him named '''Noah, after the Biblical figure. Rina was also made his sister, in turn making her a descendant of 009 and 003. * His design was loosely imported for the villain of Cain in Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier, but the character is otherwise significantly overhauled, being a murderous psychic. In contrast to the 1968 counterpart, this character takes the name of a sinister Biblical figure. Cain's design would also seemingly reference the second appearance of the Commander, where instead of the half-mask, his fringe covered his other eye. * When considering the original settings of the "Immigration" arc, in that the people from the future were born with deformities from nuclear fallout, it can be assumed that the Commander's need to hide half of his face was originally due to these implications (as with the 1968 series), rather than him simply being incognito. Although, the half-mask is later done away with, showing both him and his soldier Philippe to be counterparts of Ishinomori's often-used Jun character when it comes to their hair and faces. ** Around the time of the "Immigration" arc, aside from a Rina character also appearing in Blue Zone, the Jun in that series can also be seen as a counterpart to the Commander, when keeping in mind the hints at the hairstyle and face. Category:Male characters Category:Manga Characters Category:Time Travelers Category:Humans Category:Deceased Characters